BlackBerry launches CylancePERSONA with Cloud APIs, Boosts its AI Platform to prevent Future Threats

BlackBerry recently announced the launch of first proactive endpoint behavioral analytics solution, CylancePERSONA

Last year, BlackBerry acquired Cylance for USD $1.4 Billion in cash to boost its AI portfolio and said it would continue to operate as a separate business unit. The acquisition is completed in Feb 2019 last month.

CylancePERSONA solution identifies suspicious users in real-time by combining continuous biometric behavior and user conduct monitoring. This new lightweight solutions augments the AI-driven prevention, detection, and response capabilities of the Cylance native AI platform.

Executive Opinion

Chief product officer at BlackBerry Cylance, Eric Cornelius, said, "Every day, rogue insiders and external threat actors exploit valid user credentials to launch cyber attacks, so there is a clear need for organizations to ensure every user logged into their network can be trusted anytime and at all times. CylancePERSONA addresses this challenge. With a combination of flexible initial authentication, user-centric biometrics, AI behavioral monitoring, and automated active responses, CylancePERSONA delivers a scalable, efficient, effective solution that can ensure the trust of the user is continuous."

Founder and chief executive officer of Critical Start, Rob Davis, said, "Stealing valid credentials and impersonating users are two of the most successful vectors used by attackers. CylancePERSONA is the first solution to provide organizations a technology that can detect and respond to the use of stolen credentials on the endpoint—both on and off the corporate network."

CylancePERSONA detects User Threats

Previous user monitoring solutions rely on network traffic analysis or focus on detection but these solutions do not have the capability to respond automatically and take measures.

CylancePERSONA monitors user activity and calculates a Cylance Trust Score for the users with the help of sensors. When the user's trust score drops below a given threshold, the solution can be used to either automatically step-up authentication action or user suspension, notes the announcement.

CylancePERSONA continuously monitors user behavior for their anomalous activities such as a possible remote account takeover. Other notable capabilities of the solution include Contextual authentication analysis, the ability of automated user-centric response and support for cloud-based APIs to enable zero-trust integration with third-party products using the Cylance Trust Score.

The CylancePERSONA is first of its kind solution that takes corrective action based on user action in run-time.